There is a study in the Lancet Psychiatry this month that looks at the high incidence of "stigmatization" towards those with psychiatric labels by MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS. I respond below the excerpt with a piece based on my personal experience of such bigotry in the ranks of those charged to care for folks with diagnosis. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
I think idealization of the therapist is something everybody involved (clients, clinicians and society) participate in...and therapists...quite often enjoy the illusion and can even feed on it...yes. Conscious awareness is vitally important and given the inherent power dynamic it remains the therapists job to help the client understand that they, the therapist, are, indeed, not imbued with special powers. this too helps the client with reality checking and a good sense of their own power vis a vis that of the therapist. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
We are not meant to be well-balanced, sober servants of collective values. We are not meant to be sane, safe or similar. We are, each of us, meant to be different. A proper course of therapy does not make us better adjusted; it makes us more eccentric, a unique individual who serves a larger project than... Continue Reading →
Anyone who wants to know the human psyche will learn next to nothing from experimental psychology. He would be better advised to abandon exact science, put away his scholar's gown, bid farewell to his study, and wander with human heart throughout the world. There in the horrors of prisons, lunatic asylums and hospitals, in drab... Continue Reading →
People with psychiatric labels suffer discrimination that is not only demeaning but can also be dangerous. A 2007 UK study by the Royal College of Psychiatrists revealed that prejudicial treatment of mentally ill patients extends to physical medical care; they receive poorer quality of care and doctors spend less time with them possibly leading to higher rates... Continue Reading →
Mental health professionals, whether they realize it or not, who narrowly treat their patients in a way that encourages compliance with the status quo are acting politically. In the “adjust and be happy” sense, there is commonality among all mainstream mental health professionals, whether they are drug prescribers, behavior-modification advocates, or even some “alternative” proponents. Though their competing programs may vary, they are often similar in that they instruct people on how to adjust to any and all systems.
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